metarand

Seeing the wood for the trees in the start-up forest

It’s no secret that when I was thinking thro a name for my personal blog the Om Malik -> GigaOM algorithm featured heavily. Respect.

It is therefore such a pleasure for me to read Om’s post about GigaOM’s graduation to the next level of start-up growth. Bringing on board key hires like a COO and Managing Editor is a big move for a blog network and it’s most interesting to read Om’s post - you can almost feel the thought processes he went through in arriving at the decision to bring Paul and Carolyn onto the GigaOM team.

I’ve lost count of the number of start-ups I’ve been involved with and I’m sure Om feels the same way about the number he has reported on over the years. I sure can relate to his comments though:

Every start-up is like a tender sapling, that after tender loving care by the founder, needs a constant gardner (or two) before it can put roots, and become a tree that survives the vagaries of nature, and test of time.

Start-up founders: keep that nugget in mind as you go through the inevitable emotional rollercoaster.

After 12 sleepless months of guiding GigaOM and our network of websites along with Liz, Katie, Carleen and Joey, it became clear that we would need some help before we set off on the second mile of this marathon called start-up life.

One of the most important things for any entrepreneur to do is to surround oneself with folks who can help one see the wood for the trees, keep one focused and maintain the fun factor.

I’ll give Om the final word on this:

The journey ahead is hard, but with new friends and old cohorts, it is going to be fun. I am excited.

Hell yeah!

[Photo of Om courtesy of Thomas Hawk]

Seeing the virtual future

[Photo of RLDT by Quentin Jones]

Beverley Head has written a profile piece on me titled Seeing the virtual future, which ran yesterday in the Next section of the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age. It does starkly portray the sometimes daunting prospect of leaving a well paid, secure role for the crazy rollercoaster that is running a start up company. But once an entrepreneur…

It’s interesting to note similarities with the journey Cameron Reilly over at the Podcast Network has been on as portrayed by Paul Ryan in the Australian Anthill. We both left good roles, he was at Microsoft. We both featured on the covers of Australian magazines in the last 12 months, me on the cover of BRW, Cam on the cover of the Bulletin. We both have led networking organisations - I set up First Tuesday in Australia in the late nineties and today I’m involved with Innovation Bay, Cam recently set up MODM in Melbourne.

Hopefully the future for both of us is as vibrant as Beverley suggests in the profile piece.

Future Shock

Ben Cooper has written a diary entry-style piece from the future - just ten years out. My only criticism …hopefully we’ve found a cure for hangovers or a better form of relaxant than alcohol by then.

[Picture is courtesy of  Urban Photos and depicts a museum exhibit from 500 yrs in the future titled "Working Man", the premise being that all labor would be being done by robots]

What’s it take to be a good CEO?

Over the years I have taken on the CEO mantle a number of times, I have coached many others as a virtual CEO and I have particularly enjoyed being Chairman and working together with CEOs and their Boards.

I find the human/emotional/social aspects of this work fascinating and since I am doing a lot more of this work across a portfolio, it was with great interest that I read Chris Brogan’s post on Thinking Like a CEO.

I believe he has put forward the right mix of traits that go towards making successful CEOs. Having the ability to see the business and the macro environment from a 40,000 foot level while empathatically listening to staff and customers/users takes great skill.

Doing so in a large corporation is a worthy challenge, but within a highly volatile startup atmosphere it requires nerves of steel, a strong sense of self and belief in your ability to lead your team.

But most of all, to be a good CEO is to surround oneself with great people and consistently empower them to give of their best.

[Photo of Evan Prodromou by Peter Kaminski]

Meta Versal Wrap

David van Gent, an IBMer, has minted his own Second Life currency, which is accepted as legal tender on Tender Island. The company affectionately known as Big Blue has released its own Virtual World Guidelines for employees.

Multiverse has released Version 1.0 of their platform, which enables developers to create virtual worlds. The beta version attracted 11,000 indie developers.

Disney has acquired Club Penguin  reportedly for up to $700 million and it seems founders Lane Merrifield, Dave Krysko and Lance Priebe are over the moon about their new parent.

And just in case you are needing directions to virtual worlds …enter stage left, wait for it (drum roll)…Ted Castranova’s Exodus to the Virtual World. Be patient though, it’s only due for release at the end of November.